Asia’s hottest electronic music festival becomes first to use blockchain for onsite transactions

Taipei will host the world’s first major music festival to run on blockchain technology — more than 30,000 revelers at next month’s Ultra Taiwan 2018 are to pay for goods and services in Ultra Coin on Pundi X technology.

World’s largest independent music festival, Ultra Taiwan 2018 will not only feature the leading electronic dance music DJs and cutting-edge visual, cryogenic and pyrotechnic effects but this year also become a watershed for the real-world use of the blockchain technology.

An exclusive partnership between world-leading blockchain-based payments provider Pundi X and the festival will see more than 30,000 XPASS cards to be purchased by festival-goers for use on blockchain payment terminals at 35 different festival shops.

As a part of the Asia’s largest series of music festival, Ultra Taiwan 2018 will have Pundi X as the on-site payments partner. Pundi X is the world-leading developer of a blockchain-based point-of-sales (“POS”) device allowing consumers to pay for real goods in digital currencies.

Thousands of Pundi XPASS cards will be distributed to festival goers, who will be able to use them to pay for food, goods and merchandise at more than 35 different payment points with XPOS installed.

Pundi X POS, the blockchain-based terminal that enable retailers to use to process speedy cashless transactions, will be installed on festival grounds to process payments in Ultra Coin, the token used only in Ultra Taiwan 2018 event taking place on September 8 and 9.

The CEO and co-founder of Pundi X, Zac Cheah, said: “While we have witnessed the rise of using blockchain technology for transaction in recent years, debate continues about their use for real-world payments. In a little more than two weeks, these doubts can be laid to rest when 30,000 party goers against the hectic backdrop of this year’s Ultra Taiwan festival pay for drinks, food and merchandise using Pundi X technology. We’re very proud to be bringing blockchain-based payments to a major festival for the first time in the world in a major moment for mass adoption.”

Ultra Taiwan 2018 will this year mark its fifth anniversary with an extended, two-day festival at Taipei’s Dajia Riverside Park with a multi-stage event comprising RESISTANCE Taipei and the classic Road to Ultra across September 8 and 9 featuring Alan Walker, DJ Snake and Pan-Pot.

Pundi X has this month begun shipping its devices to the global retail market, including retail partners in Singapore, Switzerland and Korea, just six months after raising $35-million in startup funding in a public token sale in January.

The company is targeting a rollout of more than 100,000 of its unique blockchain-based POS devices to the global retail. Some 5000 pre-ordered devices of Pundi X technology are being shipped to the international market and another more than 20,000 have been ordered for deployment to the global retail sector.